Monday, March 24, 2014

A post on “delay in matches” ….. Talking more ~ can you imagine what stopped play at Hambantota in
the 2nd ODI between Sri Lanka
and New Zealand
in Nov 2013 ?

The venue is same – after the debacle in
Asia Cup, things are looking brighter for India…. we beat Pak and yesterday –
WI folded without putting up great fight… Dhoni continued winning the toss –
Indians continued grassing catches – some simple ones – Dwayne Smith played so
slowly – Gayle hit, mishit and so much was on air – not expectations but
mistimed hits which fell short of fielders and when they went straight, most
were dropped – Amit Mishra bowled beautifully, the loop and spring in his foot
and delivery … and the target was lowly 130… again for which there was some
confusion, which delayed the start of Indian innings too. Shikhar Dhawan got a
raw decision … Rohit and Virat Kohli piled runs and still Indians reached the
target only at 19.4 – in fact in the last over when a solitary run was required
– the first two balls produced no runs and off the 3rd Yuvi was out –
thus it was 1 off last 3 ….

Matches have been stopped – delays are inevitable – but this was rare … a delayed
start of the innings following a confusion over the target. The stoppage lasted
for about 10 minutes with the West Indies
players and the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma waiting in the
middle and getting impatient. The confusion revolved around India’s target — 130 or 131.
It was the result of a no-ball bowled by Ravindra Jadeja in the 18th over.
Lendl Simmons was given out caught in the deep, but the decision was later
reversed after TV replays showed Jadeja had overstepped. Finally the target was
settled to 130. Both teams, however, took it in the right spirit.

…. Washout – rain halts play;
stoppage due to bad light all happen in Cricket – especially in Test Cricket,
where Umpires would check with light meters on whether there is enough
visibility !. – on rare occasions, snag
in flood lights have halted in the game.
There are some stadiums (especially Tennis courts) which have retractable roofs atop of their
existing courts which do not stop even
in torrential rains…

At Bangladesh,
England
were unfortunate to lose after making a good score. After the match, England captain Stuart Broad has been fined 15%
of his match fee for comments following his team's rain-affected defeat against
New Zealand.
England
lost on the Duckworth-Lewis method and Broad questioned the timing of the
umpires' decision to take the teams off the field. Lightning was seen above the
ground in Chittagong before five overs of the New Zealand innings had been
completed - the amount required to constitute a match - but Aleem Dar and Paul
Reiffel elected to keep the players on until the arrival of rain, which came
after 5.2 overs, a decision that Broad described as "decidedly
average". His comments were, according to match referee Javagal Srinath,
in breach of section 2.1.7 of the code of conduct for players. "Umpires
are the final judges of the fitness of the ground, weather or light for
play," Srinath said. "Weather decisions are the most difficult to
make, but the umpires make the best decision possible, taking all factors into
account. "Such public criticism is not good for the spirit of the game.
Mutual respect between players, match officials and administrators is paramount
to the game of cricket."

At Hambantota in Nov 2013, rain proved
not to be the tropical monsoon's only disciple in its ongoing war against
cricket in Sri Lanka,
as a less mundane meteorological phenomenon stopped play and prompted the
players' exit in Hambantota. Dark clouds had gathered over the venue before the
match had begun, but around the 20th over, lightning
began to strike the forest to the east, about 1.5km from the venue.
Spotting a particularly menacing fork, the umpires conferred and led the
players off the field, citing concern for their safety.

Well, that sounds aright, but who will care for the groundsmen and
others on the field – is their lives any less important !!!

Downunder, this January (2014) – play the
Australian Open was called to a halt for more than four hours on day four with
temperatures at Melbourne Park hitting 43.3 degrees
Celsius. Later in the day, at just before 0900 GMT, lightning and thunder then
hit MelbournePark as the blazing hot weather
finally broke, with play suspended once again on the outside courts as weather
played havoc with the schedule of play. Organisers, were slammed for forcing players to play on in
searing temperatures. Some players accused
organisers of forcing players to play in "inhumane" conditions. Ivan
Dodig became the 10th player to retire in the first three days of the
tournament on Wednesday and said he feared for his life after being rendered
immobile by the heat on the exposed outer courts. Under a change to the rules
for this year, the decision on whether to stop matches at the tournament was at
the discretion of tournament referee Wayne McKewen. It was again technology –
rather than use the raw Celsius readings to assess the heat, organisers prefer
to use the Wet Bulb Global Temperature composite, which also gauges humidity
and wind to identify the perceived conditions.